STORM LAKE, Iowa (Apr. 19, 2026) - Freshman Maddy Raveling launched a full count pitch over the wall in left with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning to send the Buena Vista softball team to a thrilling 3-2 come-from-behind victory over the University of Dubuque on Sunday afternoon and earn a doubleheader split.

BVU trailed 2-0 entering the seventh inning and began the inning with a strikeout and pop out. Hanna Merron go the rally started with a double and then came around to score on an RBI single from Lindy Nelson that cut the deficit in half. Raveling then stepped in and worked the count full and after a couple foul balls, she lifted a pitch that landed well beyond fence in left which sent the players and fans into a frenzy.

The victory was not only the team's first American Rivers Conference victory of the year, it snapped a 41-game conference losing skid that dated back to a game two win of a doubleheader against Wartburg on Apr. 29, 2023.

Raveling finished 2-for-3 with a walk, two RBI and a run scored to help lead the way. Three of BVU's five hits came in the final inning. Karlee Noe also chipped in with a hit and was 1-for-2 to go along with a sacrifice.

Rylie Garner pitched a complete-game and scattered nine hits and hit one batter.

Game one was back-and-forth until the Spartans tacked on a pair of late insurance runs to win 8-5. Dubuque jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning before the Beavers got back-to-back doubles from Raveling and Noe to begin the bottom half while later getting an RBI groundout from junior Jillian Garcia that made it 3-2.

Dubuque (17-15, 3-7 A-R-C) chalked up 15 hits in the game and got one run back in the top of the second while BVU got RBI doubles from both Ella Brown and Jaylynn Craun to pull even at 4-4. After neither team scored in the third, the Spartans got the lead back on a two-run triple in the fourth and an RBI single in the fifth that made it 7-4. The Beavers scratched across a run on an RBI double from Raveling in the sixth that made it 7-5, but she was thrown out at third trying to extend it to a triple. The Spartans then got a big insurance run in the seventh for the  final score.

Raveling again helped lead the way with a pair of doubles and finished 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. Brown doubled twice and finished 3-for-3 with an RBI and scored twice. As a team, the Beavers finished with 10 hits, including six doubles.

Sophomore Paige Mahler suffered the loss after allowing six runs and 10 hits over 3.1 innings while walking two. Noe came on in relief and kept BVU within striking distance, allowing only one unearned run and just five hits over 3.2 innings.

Buena Vista is now 7-25 overall (1-7 A-R-C) and travels to #14 Simpson College (26-5, 9-3 A-R-C) on Tuesday, Apr. 21 for a doubleheader starting at 3 p.m.